Changes In The Structure Of Production, Employment And The Policies In Selected Escap Countries

The basic thrust of the paper is to examine the growth pattern and the changes in the structure of production and employment in some selected countries (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand) belonging to Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). It has been seen that following structural reforms in these economies, these countries have witnessed a substantial improvement in their growth pattern. However, among these selected countries the improvement in growth has been much more in China. Regarding the structure of production, it was seen that the shift in the structure was directly from agriculture sector to the industry (China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines) and in the other a mixed one, i.e, from agriculture to industry and more to services sector (India, Pakistan and Thailand). The employment structure has also undergone a change but relatively at a slower pace. The group of ESCAP countries under study were forced to go for structural reforms because of a common problem faced by them - resource crunch at various points of time. The main finding of this paper suggests that despite different methodologies used by these countries in the reform of their respective economies, they have been, in some form or the other, beneficiary of the strategy called economic reforms.